Jane Eyre eBook

He looked grave. “What now? What
sudden eagerness is this you evince? What are
you going to do?”

“To be active: as active as I can.
And first I must beg you to set Hannah at liberty,
and get somebody else to wait on you.”

“Do you want her?”

“Yes, to go with me to Moor House. Diana
and Mary will be at home in a week, and I want to
have everything in order against their arrival.”

“I understand. I thought you were for
flying off on some excursion. It is better so:
Hannah shall go with you.”

“Tell her to be ready by to-morrow then; and
here is the schoolroom key: I will give you
the key of my cottage in the morning.”

He took it. “You give it up very gleefully,”
said he; “I don’t quite understand your
light-heartedness, because I cannot tell what employment
you propose to yourself as a substitute for the one
you are relinquishing. What aim, what purpose,
what ambition in life have you now?”

“My first aim will be to cleandown
(do you comprehend the full force of the expression?)
—­ to cleandown Moor House from
chamber to cellar; my next to rub it up with bees-wax,
oil, and an indefinite number of cloths, till it glitters
again; my third, to arrange every chair, table, bed,
carpet, with mathematical precision; afterwards I
shall go near to ruin you in coals and peat to keep
up good fires in every room; and lastly, the two days
preceding that on which your sisters are expected
will be devoted by Hannah and me to such a beating
of eggs, sorting of currants, grating of spices, compounding
of Christmas cakes, chopping up of materials for mince-pies,
and solemnising of other culinary rites, as words can
convey but an inadequate notion of to the uninitiated
like you. My purpose, in short, is to have all
things in an absolutely perfect state of readiness
for Diana and Mary before next Thursday; and my ambition
is to give them a beau-ideal of a welcome when they
come.”

St. John smiled slightly: still he was dissatisfied.

“It is all very well for the present,”
said he; “but seriously, I trust that when the
first flush of vivacity is over, you will look a little
higher than domestic endearments and household joys.”

“The best things the world has!” I interrupted.

“No, Jane, no: this world is not the scene
of fruition; do not attempt to make it so: nor
of rest; do not turn slothful.”

“I mean, on the contrary, to be busy.”

“Jane, I excuse you for the present: two
months’ grace I allow you for the full enjoyment
of your new position, and for pleasing yourself with
this late-found charm of relationship; but then,
I hope you will begin to look beyond Moor House and
Morton, and sisterly society, and the selfish calm
and sensual comfort of civilised affluence.
I hope your energies will then once more trouble you
with their strength.”

I looked at him with surprise. “St. John,”
I said, “I think you are almost wicked to talk
so. I am disposed to be as content as a queen,
and you try to stir me up to restlessness! To
what end?”